WASHINGTON – Republicans appeared to have enough votes to narrowly confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after Sen. Susan Collins said Friday the nominee deserves a presumption of innocence against sexual allegation charges.

“It is when passions are most inflamed that fairness is most in jeopardy," the Maine Republican said on the Senate floor in announcing she will back the nomination. “I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court.”

After speaking for more than 40 minutes, she concluded: "I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh."

Minutes later, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin – the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to end debate hours earlier – announced that he will also vote for confirmation in Saturday's expected vote.

Manchin and Collins were among a handful of publicly undecided senators in the spotlight Friday as the White House and Republican leaders tried to round up enough support for Kavanaugh after a rocky few weeks of explosive allegations, dramatic hearings, public protests and impassioned defenses.

Collins sided with Republicans in the 51-49 vote to end debate. But she waited for hours to announce whether she would also vote to confirm Kavanaugh.

“Vote no! Show up for Maine women!” they shouted before being escorted out.

Retiring Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, the other senator who had been wavering this week, said before Collins' speech that he will vote to confirm Kavanaugh unless something significant changes.

Manchin, who is up for re-election in a state President Donald Trump carried by 42 points, announced his final decision in a statement in which he said his heart goes out to any sexual assault victim.

“I have reservations about this vote given the serious accusations against Judge Kavanaugh and the temperament he displayed in the hearing," Manchin said. "However, based on all of the information I have available to me, including the recently completed FBI report, I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution and determine cases based on the legal findings before him."

Even if Manchin had opposed Kavanaugh, the Senate would split 50-50 and Vice President Mike Pence would cast the tie-breaking vote. The Senate is split with 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats.

Pence is expected to preside over the final vote.

"Very proud of the U.S. Senate for voting “YES” to advance the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh!" Trump tweeted.

The final vote is not just the chance for Republicans to shift the court to the right for what could be decades, but is also a test of how public officials respond to the raw emotions unleashed by the allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh as part of the #MeToo movement.

A main reason Republicans voted for Trump – to put conservatives on the court – is also at stake, as is control of Congress in the midterm elections.

White House officials were working the phones, but wouldn't say whether Trump himself had spoken to individual senators.

"We continue to stay in regular contact," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said before Collins' remarks. "The president supports his nominee, and wants him to be confirmed."

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican to vote against advancing the nomination, called it one of the most difficult decisions of her career.

"I believe that Brett Kavanaugh is a good man, I believe he is a good man," Murkowski said after the vote. "But it just may be that, in my view, he’s not the right man for the court at this time.”

Murkowski, in a nearly 30-minute speech on the Senate floor Friday night, said much of her decision revolved around Kavanaugh's comments and demeanor during a hearing last week where he repeatedly called out Democrats. She said no matter the situation, judges "should act in all times in a manner that promotes public confidence."

"It is so critical that we have that in at least in one of our three branches of government," she said.

Since her vote against Kavanaugh currently wouldn't keep him from obtaining a seat on the high court, she said she would vote "present" as a collegial gesture for her Republican colleague Sen. Steve Daines, who supports Kavanaugh but is attending his daughter's wedding Saturday. The gesture won't affect the final vote.

"I have a very high standard. I have a very high bar for any nominee," she said in her speech.

“We went to support her,” Ernst said afterward. "She did a wonderful job. I’m very proud of the diligence she put into it.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. – who had lunched with Collins before her speech – and GOP Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, turned their chairs entirely around to watch Collins.

As the speech went on and it became clear she was going to vote in favor of Kavanaugh, Democrats began to slump in their chairs and a handful of people watching from the balconies above walked out.

At the conclusion of her remarks Republicans gave her a standing ovation as Collins mouthed “thank you” repeatedly. Then Republicans, one by one, shook her hand or hugged her. No Democrats approached.

Manchin, the only Democrat whose position was in question Friday, had headed before the vote to the secure basement room inside the Capitol complex to continuing reviewing the 46-page FBI report on Kavanaugh and the charges of sexual assault made by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.

Reporters pounced, asking Manchin if he'd made up his mind. He said he hadn't. He kept walking.

Collins and Flake had seemed satisfied Thursday with the report.

Murkowski later told reporters she made up her mind as she walked into the chamber Friday morning.

“This has truly been the most difficult evaluation of a decision that I’ve ever had to make and I’ve made some interesting ones in my political career," she said afterward.

She had sat stone-faced after casting her vote, her hands clasped across her lap and staring straight ahead as her colleagues voted for and against ending debate.

At one point, Collins leaned in, and the two of them chatted. Collins put her right hand on Murkowski’s armrest.

After the vote, lawmakers gathered around Murkowski on the Senate floor and huddled for a heated conversation.

“People just wanted to let them know that we appreciated her and there’s gonna be another vote coming soon and we’re going to need her,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the head of the GOP conference, said about other issues the Senate will deal with.

An opinion piece Kavanaugh wrote Thursday in The Wall Street Journal was meant to reassure senators who had expressed concern about his temperament after his angry testimony last week, two officials familiar with the process said.

But the American Bar Association announced Friday it's reopening its evaluation of Kavanaugh because of "new information of a material nature regarding temperament." The review will not be done before the final vote. Republicans – including Collins in her speech Friday – have touted the ABA's previous "well qualified" rating of Kavanaugh as the "gold standard."

Kavanaugh's confirmation has intensified the polarization between parties as both Republicans and Democrats hurled insults and salacious claims over the weeks to keep public opinion on their side.

Kavanaugh’s nomination, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said before the vote, “will go down as one of the saddest, most sordid chapters in the long history of the federal judiciary.”

McConnell urged his colleagues to send a message to the American people that some core principles remain unfettered by partisan passions of this moment.

Anti-Kavanuagh protesters yelled at senators as they returned to their Senate offices after the vote. They thanked senators who voted no, but verbally railed against those who voted yes.

"Turn around and speak to us. We’re here. We’re your constituents. We’re your mothers, your daughters, your aunties," one yelled at Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., as he waited to get on the elevator. Capitol Police officers blocked protesters from getting close to him.

The vote on Kavanaugh, who denies accusations of sexual assault, has been seen as a test for the #MeToo movement, and its results could reverberate into next month's midterm elections. In the end, though, Kavanaugh's appointment would tilt the balance of power on the high court to conservatives for years to come.

Both parties think the fight will motivate their voters to get to the polls Nov. 6. Democrats are seen as having a good shot of capturing the House, fueled in part by anger among female voters. But Senate Democrats are defending multiple seats in states Trump easily carried, making the Kavanaugh vote a potential liability.

Each vote in the razor-thin Republican majority will carry more weight than usual as Kavanaugh's appointment will hold for life.

Kavanaugh’s nomination always was destined to become a partisan battleground because of the justice he was picked to replace: Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s swing vote, who had sided with his liberal colleagues on issues such as abortion, affirmative action and gay rights. Kennedy, 81, retired after three decades in the middle of the court’s ideological battles.

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Dr. Christine Blasey Ford speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Sept. 27, 2018. Ford said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during a party when they were in high school. Kavanaugh has denied these allegations. Pool photo by Michael Reynolds

Christine Blasey Ford testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Sept. 27, 2018. Pool Photo by Andrew Harnik

Rachel Mitchell, a prosecutor from Arizona, is seen before Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party 36 years ago, testifies during his US Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Pool photo by SAUL LOEB

Senator Chuck Grassley checks outs the media area before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Sept. 27, 2018. Pool photo by Michael Reynolds

A view of the Senate Judiciary Committee's room before a hearing for the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh where Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to testify. Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images

People line up outside the Dirksen Senate Office building before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing with Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford on Capitol Hill Sept. 27, 2018 Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images

A staff member places name plates as the Senate Judiciary Committee's room on Capitol Hill Sept. 26, 2018 in Washington, DC, during preparations one day before the hearing with Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images

US Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in before testifying at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. University professor Christine Blasey Ford, 51, told a tense Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that could make or break Kavanaugh's nomination she was "100 percent" certain he was the assailant and it was "absolutely not" a case of mistaken identify. TOM WILLIAMS/AFP/Getty Images

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh with his wife Ashley attend the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Trump's nominee to be a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Brett Kavanaugh is in a tumultuous confirmation process as multiple women have accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. ERIN SCHAFF / POOL, EPA-EFE

Judge Brett Kavanaugh holds hands with his wife Ashley Kavanaugh as he arrives to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill Sept. 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was called back to testify about claims by Christine Blasey Ford, who accused him of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing his nomination to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court, on Sept. 27, 2018. President Donald J. Trump's nominee to be an associate justice Brett Kavanaugh is in a tumultuous confirmation process as multiple women have accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. SAUL LOEB / POOL, EPA-EFE

Students at the University of Southern California (USC) watch a live telecast of the testimony from Brett Kavanaugh over sexual assault allegations from Christine Blasey Ford, Sept. 27, 2018, at the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism in Los Angeles. MIKE NELSON, EPA-EFE

Steven Dupler of New York watches the congressional hearing taking place in Washington DC with Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, on his phone while standing on the sidewalk in New York. JUSTIN LANE, EPA-EFE

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh angrily defends his reputation during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. MICHAEL REYNOLDS, EPA-EFE

Senator Dianne Feinstein can be seen during a break in the hearing. The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford to testify about sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on Thursday. Pool, Getty Images

A bank of televisions show Brett Kavanaugh testifying at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, at a the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. MIKE NELSON, EPA-EFE

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., points to posters as he questions Judge Brett Kavanaugh during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Pool, Getty Images

A student watches as Brett Kavanaugh is questioned by US Senator Dianne Feinstein at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. MIKE NELSON, EPA-EFE